Local house, gardens offer glimpse into history

Tuesday

Mar 18, 2014 at 11:55 AM

Cynthia Grau

Tucked away in the nooks and crannies of one of the state’s largest counties are some of the most historical properties in Illinois. One of these treasures, which is located on a side street near Route 23 in Streator, isn’t as well known as places like the Route 66 Hall of Fame and Museum, but offers a unique look back into a simpler time.The Weber House and Gardens, owned and cared for by Ted Weber, Chicago television and radio personality who was born and raised in Streator and returned to the home 30 years ago, boasts many stories of famous visitors and painstakingly careful work done on the home and grounds.Weber, 75, takes visitors through the cottage gardens, which will be in full bloom in the coming months, as well as the home, which was built by Weber’s parents in the 1930s.The home is what is referred to as a storybook home. Weber said his mother chose the build from a set of blueprints. It is styled to follow the Tudor period, which took place between 1489 and 1608 in England. Weber said he’s changed the décor since he’s been caring for the grounds.“Thousands of these little storybook houses were built in the 1930s and 1940s. When it was finished, they ignored the period style and treated it like a modern 1940s house – painted it fashionable colors for the 1940s and 1950s. Totally inappropriate,” Weber said. “In the many years that I have been here, I’ve changed the appearance of the house cosmetically by adding some additional faux stone and painting everything a stone color. That’s more appropriate to what a house of 300 to 500 years ago would have looked like.”The cottage gardens are styled in the arts and crafts style of the 19th and early 20th centuries. He said during that time, in England, people began to room off gardens to save their fruits and vegetables from animals and intruders, especially during the times of famine.“Many of those great walled-in gardens had been turned into ornamental gardens. Cottage gardens are ornamental. Even our cottage here, which is an ornamental vegetable garden,” Weber said.The tour of the home begins in the entryway, which is named “Shadow Hall” after “The Shadow,” which was a popular radio crime drama in the 1930s and ‘40s.. Weber said when Bret Morrison, who, at one point portrayed the Shadow, passed away, he inherited the walking sticks that originally belonged to Lamont Cranston, another actor to hold the role. Those can be seen right inside the red entrance to the home.Just past Shadow Hall lies the dining room, better known as the Myrna Loy room. Loy, a famous American stage and film actress, visited the Weber House on multiple occasions. Weber tells a story of how she was known as President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s favorite actress and it made front page news when he stated, on multiple occasions, he wanted to meet her. Whether he was able to or not, she was later named as a delegate to the United Nations with Roosevelt’s wife, Eleanor, by President Harry Truman.Around the corner is the parlor, decorated with a large mirror and couch, as well as china pieces. The piece that brings a lot of interest to that room is a signed card by then-Vice President Richard Nixon, who Weber met on several occasions. The card is separated from another historic piece by a very sharp letter opener ““A card from Nixon and a book, signed by Leon Jaworski, the Watergate special prosecutor, sit incredibly close together on a table, but there is protection situated between the two,” Weber points out.The hallway leading to two bedrooms is decorated in the style of the 18th century, which is when it became popular for the aristocracy to take collected prints or etchings and have them permanently glued to the walls. Weber said other paper products would be fashioned to make frames for the prints.“There’s no room for furniture and if you hang pictures, which is fine, when you look down the hall, you see all the edges of the frames,” Weber said. “These are flat to the wall, so you can have shelves, the ceilings with the coffering and the painted floor. The room is decorated without anything in it.”The first bedroom is known as the Kukla, Fran and Ollie Room, named after a famous puppet show that ran on television for many years. Weber knew the stars and creator of the show, and the Kuklapolitan Players even had a chance to spend two weeks at the Weber home, albeit in their cases stored underneath the bed.Even though the majority of the house is truly period, with most evening tours being led in candlelight, Weber decided to hide a television in that room, in case another famous actress came to visit.“Tallulah Bankhead had it written in her contracts, whether he was to star in a film or play, there had to be a television in her dressing room so she could watch Kukla, Fran and Ollie. What would have happened if Tallulah had ever come to visit?” Weber asked.The next bedroom is named after Aaron Gold, a Chicago Tribune columnist who penned his first piece from that very room. It is home to a sitting area, as well as a very large, ornate canopied bed.“The bed would have been the most expensive piece of furniture in a colonial home, but not for any of the reasons anyone would probably guess in the 21st century,” Weber pointed out.The room also contains another hidden television and an incredibly rare Abraham Lincoln collector piece.The second floor of the home contains two rooms, as well as Luther the Cat’s small, private room with small windows looking out to the garden. Nobody can get inside Luther’s room, and he can typically be found roaming the gardens while the area is experiencing warmer weather.The basement, Weber explained, is original to the house.“They were put here when the house was built as regular living space. The reason for that was it was before the days of air conditioning. These were the only rooms where you could escape the summer heat. I keep my books and various things down here,” He said.Some of those various things he mentions include a painted portrait of Weber, a collection of signed books and pictures, including a photograph of Gypsy Rose Lee sitting on Weber’s lap, and a display showcasing Weber and the many stars he met during his time on the radio and television.“All these books are written by people I know and they’re all signed to me,” he said.After graduating from Streator High School and Columbia College and making a name for himself in radio in the Chicagoland area, Weber returned home to care for his parents about 30 years ago. He now gets to indulge in his love of gardening.“Something we all know that I’m a living example of, and that’s how important it is during your working life to have a passion for something other than your job. At some point, we all retire,” he pointed out. “You better have something to do, and I had gardening. I was doing this even when I was working. In Chicago, living in an apartment on the 15th floor, I couldn’t have a garden, so I would come home on weekends quite often and work in the garden.”He is hoping, as people come through and tour the grounds, he will find individuals interested in volunteering. Whether a person likes history or horticulture, there is a lot to learn at the Weber House and Gardens. Weber is reaching out to students, FFA members looking for a project piece, garden clubs, those interested in history or just looking to volunteer for a good cause. “There’s nothing like having history told to you that happened during your own lifetime or that your mother talked about,” he said.

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